The 3a looks very much like its older brother, the Pixel 3, but with fewer seams. Ours also came in a rather distinctive color, which Google dubs "Purple-ish," but which we dub "Thanos Edition."

That seamless enclosure points to a screen-first entry on this phone—we're hoping this will mean easier screen replacements than what we saw on the Pixel 3.

Dread it, run from it, but screen repairs arrive all the same.

Google also managed to fit a headphone jack in here—which weirdly feels like a luxury feature on this budget phone.

From the back, it's hard to tell the 3 and 3a apart. Supposedly that brittle glass cover makes for a more premium handset, but we can't see the difference from here.

The iPhone XR and Galaxy S10e would also like to take your budget smartphone dollars—but at $700+, they're not trying that hard. The Pixel 3a packs a slower processor and plastic construction, among other changes, to bring the price down a ton.